New Year’s resolutions am I right? Well it’s near the end of March as I start this blog, a day before opening day in baseball, and yes my grumpy ass is complaining that it’s on a Thursday rather than the classic Monday. For the record I think the Braves will win the NL Pennant and if I had to guess I’d say Yankees in the AL. Watch me be wrong as always, but I’m not here to talk about baseball, although I’d really like to explain how much random thought I put into picking all the wrong division winners. No I’m here to talk to you about New Year’s resolutions and in particular, kicking them square in the dick and becoming their master.
It’s at this point where I should explain what resolutions I’m talking about. Yes I spent the month of January doing Whole 30, which was amazing except for the fact that I now hate my cooking with a passion and cauliflower rice can eat my ass. I went a whole month without alcohol too so I guess I’m not an alcoholic, good for me. No I didn’t shed 50 pounds of fat and get that chiseled socially acceptable body I sorta had years ago, no I watched a shit load of movies. So like all of my blogs let’s go back in time as I recall a pointless narrative to set the scene.
The year was 2013. If you recall this was the last time I updated my top 100 movies list. This was a time consuming project that I promised I’d only update once a decade. If you’re wondering if I’ve had any second thoughts in the last 6 years I’ll tell you no I haven’t. I stand by that list, and maybe it’ll shuffle around a bit come 2023, it certainly hasn’t changed enough to warrant a re-do yet. Well I could paraphrase Alexander the Great when “I wept for there were no more films to conquer.” I watched several hundred movies prepping for that list, and was frankly exhausted. So I took a few months to chill out on the movie watching, catch up a bit on the films of 2012 that I missed, and give this television thing a shot.
Some rather major changes happened in my life that year and I wound up moving about five times in 2013 alone. I started a new job that would become a new career and yes I decided to watch TV. This is the supposed golden age of television we are now in so in no short order I decided to binge Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, and then 30 Rock, The League, Parks and Recreation, and later on down the line several other shows. My point was that I had no films left to watch. Frankly put there is no film made from 1895-2010 that could make my top 100 film list that I haven’t already seen. Sure there might be some changes when I decide City Lights is better than Modern Times, or maybe Rules of the Game is better than Grand Illusion, but I’ve already seen those films multiple times. If I wanted to experience anything new and great, TV was my only choice.
So what the hell is the point of this, well the point is I fell behind on movies. Eventually I got 2012 up to 50 films and could sigh some relief that another year met my mystic quota. However by the time I moved to Oakland in 2015, I hadn’t caught up 2013 or 2014. Fast-forward to the end of 2018 and I’m back in Chicago and not only had I not seen 50 films from 2015-2018, I STILL hadn’t gotten to 50 from ‘13 or ‘14. I had severely dropped the ball, and no amount of self loathing was going to fix this. So I quietly made myself a little resolution that I hoped I could accomplish. See a minimum of 50 films from 2013 to at least 2017, and then hopefully get 2018 squared away by the end of the year.
How did I do on this resolution you might ask? Well, it’s been well documented that I am maniacally obsessive when it comes to film. This is why I’ve seen more movies than you. My idea of a good time when other friends were partying at age 19-21 was to rent 30 films in a weekend and watch them one after the other non-stop until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. There were entire weekends when my car didn’t move from getting off of work Friday to going back Monday morning. Movies were my life, and I watched them like body builders lift weights. Well I tapped into that old obsession and not having any damn wiener kids to get in the way of my movie watching, I accomplished my year end goal by the end of January. That is to say 2013-2017 were all over 50 films in a month, something that previously was taking me 5 years.
Today I watched Steve McQueen’s latest film that no one saw Widows, which was quite excellent by the way. This movie got my 2018 total up to 50 films as well. It’s not even April and my year end goal was accomplished, go me. Now there are a few films from these last several years that I still would like to get to, 50 films is a benchmark not an end in itself. As more films from the past year get released on blu-ray, and all the existing holds at my local library dry up I’ll get around to some of these other films. The reason for this zealous pursuit however is because of one major detail with the end of the year. This is the last year of the decade, meaning in addition to the usual top ten lists of 2019 will be the best movies of the decade lists. When 2010 rolled around I had a handful of movies to watch, most of which I saw, with I believe the exception being some James Benning film that was probably 4 hours of trains going by (seriously this isn’t a joke). This time, I want to be ready to attack that decade list, with hopefully only a pittance of 2019 films that haven’t even been released yet.
Now I realize that with a blog title like this you might think I’m like one of those assholes who posts a recipe online for instant pot beef short ribs but prefaces their recipe with 20,000 words about how their kids love peeling ginger with a spoon. Point is I wanted to share this monumental occasion and end the prose with some good old fashioned lists.
The other reason I wanted to get some of these down is because frankly I don’t think films have been as good over the last several years. I can think of maybe one film made since my last top 100 list that might make my next list, and that’s mainly because it’s the third part of an ongoing trilogy (Before Midnight). Counting every film on my previous list the longest gap between years was 7, the years between 1916 (Intolerance) and 1923 (Our Hospitality). By my current count the most recent film on my top 100 was Tree of Life, meaning if I don’t include any films made since, that would make 7 years since a film cracked my top 100. So here’s sincerely hoping 2019 has some masterpieces in store. Perhaps the reason people are so depressed now, other than the everything, is the quality of our art has not helped relieve our suffering.
These lists are mainly my rankings as of now-ish. I will re-visit a few of these movies at some point when I get ready to make my own best of the decade list, and I still have a few to go that may make the cut. So feel free to use this list to complain about my taste, or have a reference for when you inevitably ask yourself “What films do I need to see from the last 6 years?”
Now that I have finished my main goal, I’m retroactively trying to get every other year up to 50. From 1962-2018 every year is over that magic 50 film mark. So the rest of this year will be spent trying to catch up all those years in the 30s-50s, so huzzah I will master all of cinema history to spite my enemies. Whatever here’s some top 10 lists.*
*Movies are listed by the year they premiered in the US or were up for award consideration.
2013
10. Let the Fire Burn - Jason Osder
2013 was a pretty great year for documentaries, and I could have filled this last spot with a number of them. Let the Fire Burn is an interesting documentary in that it’s all found footage, with the occasional title card. This tells the tale of the tumultous relationship between a black activist group Move and the city of Philadelphia. A forgotten incident from our recent past which is brought painfully back into the light.
9. Blue Jasmine - Woody Allen
At the rate we’re going this might very well be the last great Woody Allen movie. A few forgettable films followed this up before the world remembered they should hate him for his creepiness several decades ago. Cate Blanchett won a very well deserved Oscar for this film that I found superior to Midnight in Paris.
8. Beyond the Hills - Cristian Mugiu
Proof that the great Romanian renaissance isn’t over yet, Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills took a long time to get released on home video here, but the wait was worth it. I mean if you like subtle lesbianism, religious orthodoxy, social commentary, Cold War allegory, this movie is for you.
7. The Great Beauty - Paolo Sorrentino
I wrote about this film on here years ago and I might have given the impression that I thought it was a bit derivative. It definitely channels the Fellini of La Dolce Vita, but that certainly isn’t a bad thing. The world could use another Fellini, and this is one of the best Italian films made in years.
6. Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler
Like a lot of people I had no idea who Ryan Coogler was when this film came out. I still didn’t know much when he was making Creed, but the whole world found out when Black Panther made all the money. Suddenly that film that I passed on watching multiple times on Netflix I had to check out. Based on a real life incident (as was Beyond the Hills), it was filmed in my one time home Oakland. Perhaps it’s because of living there that this movie hits hard, but to me this is the best representation of Coogler’s talent. This is him without a franchise to worry about or big budget concerns to think of, just an important story that needed to be told and a fantastically under appreciated performance by Michael B. Jordan.
5. American Hustle - David O. Russell
When I saw American Hustle I was inclined to believe David O. Russell could do no wrong. Hell I even loved I Heart Huckabees. American Hustle was his most ambitious film to date, and interwove it’s multiple narratives like a more focused Robert Altman, or at least a peak Paul Thomas Anderson. Plus the world could use more fat, balding Christian Bale.
4. A Touch of Sin - Jia Zhang-ke
I’ve seen every film Jia Zhang-ke has made, usually a couple of times and man do I not remember what happens in them. Five minutes into this film I was confronted with a sharp burst of violence and suddenly came to that conclusion this one was going to be different. There are still unique and interesting films coming out of China even if most of the 5th Generation has turned to gaudy blockbusters.
3. Before Midnight - Richard Linklater
I don’t know if we’ll see a fourth installment in this series come 2022, but man I hope so. Before Sunrise was a film I fell in love with instantly, and by the second time I watched Before Sunset (admittedly a few months after making my last top 100) I realized that might be superior. Point is I tend to love these films more, the closer I get to the ages of Celine and Jesse, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Before Midnight winds up my favorite when I’m in my 40s.
2. 12 Years a Slave - Steve McQueen
After just watching Widows, I might say that is the closest thing to a “feel good” movie Steve McQueen has made. 12 Years a Slave was by far his biggest commercial success and the only one that seemed to be noticed by the Academy (they really do love slaves and racist southerners). It was a film that I knew would be devastating and it was. Not one that I’d care to revisit on a repeat basis, but this really did deserve the best picture Oscar.
1. The Act of Killing - Joshua Oppenheimer
Well here is the rare time when a documentary is the best film of the year. This movie is some serious shit. Along with it’s sequel of sorts The Look of Silence, this movie is disturbing in the way the best true crime serial killer documentaries are, except the serial killer happens to work on behalf of the government. Perhaps more so than the countless documentaries about the Holocaust and how they could have happened, we get the genocide from the perspective of the people who carried it out, and it is the best damn film from 2013.
2014
10. Whiplash - Damien Chazelle
For the rest of time Damien Chazelle will see “From the director of La La Land” plastered on every new movie he makes. Before that film earned it’s own infamy came Whiplash. For all of the would be star making of Myles Teller, this really is J.K. Simmon’s show and five years later he’s still the only thing people are talking about from Whiplash.
9. The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson
There aren’t any bad Wes Anderson films, but there is a variance between the good and the excellent. The Grand Budapest Hotel is pretty damn close to being in that excellent category, and probably will be if I ever watch it again.
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Joe and Anthony Russo
After Iron Man 3 and The Dark World I had nearly reached my breaking point with Marvel. Yes my fatigue set in back in 2014 before it was cool. Winter Soldier was the first Marvel movie I skipped in the theater and when I finally watched it on blu-ray I had to speed it up to make it to work on time. Well a few years later and two subsequent viewings at the correct speed and this definitely makes the short list of best Marvel movies ever. In fact it would wind up being the best Marvel movie yet, for a couple months.
7. Wild Tales - Damián Szifron
This is one of those late additions I added to this ranking after the fact. The problem with many, nealy all anthology films is one or two week stories. Wild Tales does a pretty fantastic job of keeping each individual episode top notch. No segment seems to overstay it’s welcome and Szifron stacks the absurdity in abundance. Supremely entertaining it does have that over the top charm of a Almodovar film (which he produced), but it’s clearly a unique and original vision.
6. Like Father, Like Son - Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan’s greatest living director is starting to make a case for being Japan’s greatest director period. It might be another decade before people will seriously consider Kore-eda among Mizoguchi and Kurosawa, but a couple more gems like this and he’s there. Kore-eda always seems to make films based on a solid premise and the man just has good ideas. All of his films are unique but part of a greater tapestry of Japan’s marginalized groups. Like Father, Like Son is just another in a long line of masterpieces.
5. Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance - Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu
AGI made a name for himself with 2000’s Amores Perros, but it wasn’t until Birdman that he became the first Mexican director to helm a best picture winner. I am usually apprehensive about movies that are gimmicks, and this film’s attempt at doing a single unbroken shot may have had me skeptical, but that gets forgotten. Unlike say Russian Ark or even the newer Viktoria I didn’t care that there were no cuts. I simply was on board with what was happening and the unbroken gimmick just added a little extra to the craft. Plus Michael Keaton all day.
4. Norte, The End of History - Lav Diaz
I watch a lot of movies. Sometimes I forget to write ‘em down and years go by and I think “Did I ever watch that?” Well you might suspect if I can’t remember seeing it, then I should probably give it another glance. Such was the case with Lav Diaz’s most commercial film (by default). The second time through I did remember what I was watching, and hot damn is this good. Rather than simply adapt or even update Crime and Punishment, Diaz uses it as it’s own launch point, and takes his sweet time going into cool and unusual places.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy - James Gunn
Winter Soldier didn’t hang on to the top spot of Marvel movies for long. Guardians of the Galaxy was James Gunn’s insanely good risk that paid off beautifully. Gunn’s background might have seemed like an odd choice but he gave Marvel exactly what it needed in 2014. A brilliant introduction into the cosmic side of things, featuring characters no one cared about before this movie. By making his own smart ass take on Space Avengers/Star Wars* Gunn managed to surpass both. *Not counting the original trilogy of course.
2. The Immigrant - James Gray
So here we are into the guess I gotta pick a number one territory. James Gray has been overlooked as a director for reasons that will never truly make sense to me. After the excellent and also underseen Two Lovers comes this outstanding period picture. Both Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix deliver some of their best performances, but utlimately it’s Gray’s show.
1. The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans
A sequel as the best film of 2014? Why the hell not. There are always a good dose of great films that are important or heartbreaking but sometimes you just want your action over the top. For all the simplicity and amazingness that was The Raid: Redemption, the sequel finds a way to keep everything great about that film just on a ridiculously larger scale. Gareth Evans truly earns the moniker of visionary director, and spectacularly blows past all shaky-cam gritty CGI laced nonsense of modern action films. Think vintage John Woo plus John McTiernan and maybe the over the top splash of Paul Verhouven and you might start to get close. You don’t need to see the first Raid to enjoy this, but you should.
2015
10. The Duke of Burgundy - Peter Strickland
So awhile ago I went to my mom’s house for dinner, and brought two films from the library. One was The End of the Tour and the other was The Duke of Burgundy. After reading the description of each we wisely went with The End of the Tour. Let’s just say The Duke of Burgundy isn’t a film you should ever watch with your mother. Despite the overtly sexual nature of the film, there is no nudity, but it’s rather a very fascinating portrait of a domineering and subservient lesbian relationship. Peter Strickland takes his sweet time setting up his film and pays a great amount of attention to the details, well acted and incredibly well designed.
9. The Martian - Ridley Scott
It seems that every so often Ridley Scott has to fall back asswards into a minor masterpiece and box office hit. While he isn’t trying to cash in on being the director of Alien, Blade Runner, or Gladiator, he occasionally strikes gold. I willfully missed The Martian when it was first released. I do however watch EVERY film ever nominated for a best picture Oscar, so clearly I would eventually get around to this. By the time I did I regretted the fact that I waited so long. This might seem like one of those “everything is in the trailer”, but it makes a wonderfully entertaining journey through all those plot points.
8. The Look of Silence - Joshua Oppenheimer
The sequel to The Act of Killing is on the surface more of the same. It does take a slightly more personal approach to the same subject matter and is no less powerful. Like too many of the real life murderers interviewed in the film, it might be tempting to get de-sensitized to it especially after watching the first film. An essential companion piece, and the best documentary of the year.
7. Mistress America - Noah Baumbach
I first encountered Noah Baumbach with his 2005 film The Squid and the Whale. Over the years I looked into some of his earlier work as well as his more recent outings. Mistress America is by some just another entry in his oeuvre, sometimes listed as the forgettable follow-up to Frances Ha, but this might be my favorite film of his. Co-written by his star and partner Greta Gerwig it is a perfect showcase for her, even if she isn’t entirely the main character. It’s hard not to get swept into her charm and be part of her world.
6. The Experimenter - Michael Almereyda
After knocking out everything I could find from Film Comment’s top 20 from 2015, I started to look at the films just outside that ranking. The Experimenter happened to be on Netflix so I figured I’d check it out. I didn’t know much about it or it’s director, even though I had seen his version of Hamlet and Marjorie Prime. It’s one of those films that sets up everything you need to know very quickly. In the first 10 minutes I was on board and the rest of the film did not convince me otherwise.
5. What We Do in the Shadows - Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement
When I heard one half of Flight of the Conchords made a mockumentary about vampires, I was sold. I realize that this film did straddle the fence between a 2014 and 2015 release, so based on when you want to count it, feel free to slot it in. This film did spawn it’s own spin-off show, so the secret is certainly out on it’s awesomeness. The humor is as dry as it gets, but for fans of Jemaine’s it is everything you could hope for.
4. Carol - Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is more or less the queer descendant of Douglas Sirk but with better production values than Rainer Werner Fassbender. Carol might very well be his best film, certainly his best since Far From Heaven. Carol does have that same Douglas Sirk feel that Heaven did, but it’s story is a touch more compelling. Both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are excellent in their roles, and the wonderful art direction makes sure no frame is boring.
3. Timbuktu - Abderrahmane Sissako
So in case you were wondering what my favorite foreign film of 2015 was, here is your answer. There is plenty of news reports on Sharia law and the horrible conditions people live in under it, but somehow that never really hits home. Sissako manages to give a glimpse of life under the strictest of rules, where football is played with an imaginary ball because sports are banned, and people are given 40 lashes for singing. The main story focuses on a cattle farmer caught in a violent dispute as the oppressive regime serves as a stark backdrop. A compelling and brave film that helps to humanize what is going on in parts of Africa today.
2. Diary of a Teenage Girl - Marielle Heller
Having lived in the bay area for 3 years I don’t necessarily get excited about nostalgic looks at San Francisco’s past. Diary of a Teenage Girl puts you in that world, where the city is still filled with at least the drugs of the summer of love, but has noticeably gotten dirtier and all the adults seem too fucked up to be decent parents. What might seem like an awkward coming of age story gets real explicit really quick and it quickly became one of my favorite films of the year. First time director Marielle Heller, who was best known for being in Macgruber before this, does an exceptional job. The three leads are all fantastic particularly Bel Powley, and I have to say if you’re expecting a comedy with her and Kristen Wiig, you are in for a very big surprise.
1. The Big Short - Adam McKay
When this film was nominated for best picture I scratched my head a bit. The guy who directed Talladega Nights is nominated for an Oscar? Well I watched The Big Short and before the Academy Awards I was rooting for this. Sure Spotlight was fine and everyone seemed really pumped about Mad Max for reasons, but The Big Short was the best film I had seen. After watching some 30 additional films after it, I haven’t seen one better. McKay uses his comedy background to break down and disseminate complex topics while keeping things moving and entertaining. He also assembled a cast of gods to make the definitive film on the financial collapse of 2008. Perhaps the reason I like this film so much is because I feel like if I ever became a competent director I would have that same tendency to take the piss out of whatever Oscar bait I was producing. It might frustrate some critics but McKay is a man after my own heart.
2016
10. The Handmaiden - Park Chan-wook
About a decade after he wrapped up his Vengeance trilogy Park Chan-wook returned to prominence with The Handmaiden. Not to be confused with the 1960 South Korean classic The Housemaid, this is all Park. Explicit, a little violent and wonderfully devious, it was one of those films that you find pleasantly captivating.
9. Tower - Keith Maitland
I definitely missed this when it came out. An oddly executed documentary about Charles Whitman’s University of Texas shooting, it features animated re-enactments. What might at first seem like a distracting tactic to show the action immediately gives way to an extremely compelling narrative. Told by real survivors of the incident, the style of animation draws some similarities to Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, and Whitman himself was also referenced in Linklater’s first film Slacker. There have been no shortage of films aimed at humanizing mass shootings and tragedy but this was arguably the first which inspired numerous films including Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets. By making this film in 2016 it shows how far we still have to go to make any sense of these things.
8. Manchester By the Sea - Kenneth Lonergan
With all due respect to Moonlight, this was the most depressing film of the year. Walking into this expecting two hours of misery and suffering put Lonergan’s film at a disadvantage. It says something about the Oscar winning performance of Casey Affleck that the film still manages to be damn good. Sure some of the super thick Boston accents are almost comical, the acting carries it through. Lonergan has had a rather uneven road in Hollywood and it’s nice to see him get the acclaim many critics felt he’s always deserved.
7. Captain Fantastic - Matt Ross
Every year when Oscar nominations are announced there is always a film or two that I look at as chores. Something I got to see simply because it was nominated for best picture, actor, or actress. Captain Fantastic was that film that I had very little hope for that instantly won me over. Viggo Mortensen is fantastic in this film as the patriarch of a very unconventionally raised family of outcasts. There have been several attempts at making films of this kind, most recently Leave No Trace, but this film finds a wonderful way of mixing it’s off center ideology with an entertaining and occasionally funny narrative.
6. Neruda - Pablo Larrain
Pablo Larrain had quite the 1-2 punch in 2016 directing this and the surprisingly excellent Jackie (which was another gotta watch because of Oscar nominations film). Both films play with narrative structure and are far from conventional, but Neruda seriously had me guessing. It’s one of those enigmatic cinema poems that you don’t even realize is being enigmatic until you’re far too immersed in what’s going on. It messed with my mind in a way truly good films can and it infinitely fulfilled the promise of Larrain’s earlier No.
5. 13th - Ava DuVernay
When this film popped up on Netflix, I thought the premise sounded interesting. I’m no stranger to films designed to make white people feel like shit, but this movie did something much more. It drew a very straight line between slavery and our current for-profit prison system and the institutionalized racism currently existing. The phrase white privilege has been used a lot, especially in 2016 when some jack-ass ran for president, but this film really helped me at least understand what that is. This states the facts but in a way where you can’t even comprehend the depth of our inherently flawed justice system. Never a bad thing when a film can make you ashamed to be white without showing some cliched racist southerners.
4. Moonlight - Barry Jenkins
It will never cease to annoy me, but occasionally people clap after a movie is over. Not at like a premiere with the cast and crew present, just a random Sunday matinee. In the case of Moonlight it may have been warranted. I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the film when I saw it, but I did know I was watching something special. There simply weren’t movies like this. It was a new and unique voice but also beautifully shot. It didn’t hold it’s punches, but didn’t seem to preach. Jenkins has a leisurely way of telling a story and often seems more concerned with creating a mood rather than delivering exposition. After If Beale Street Could Talk confirmed this was no fluke, I’m on board for whatever he’s doing next.
3. Deadpool - Tim Miller
With all due respect to Civil War and Doctor Strange, Deadpool was far and away the best super hero movie of 2016. With heavy fatigue setting in about super hero movies, it takes something really unique to make you care. Deadpool was a film I never thought was going to happen, I heard rumors about it’s script and production for years. Then of course Fox ruined Deadpool in that Wolverine movie we should never speak of, and it seemed like a pipe dream. When the second Sin City movie bombed people blamed the R-rating rather than the horrible new stories. So after much begging, fan interference and a greatly reduced budget, Deadpool suddenly became one of the most successful films ever made. For any fans of the character (and I’ve been one for 25 years) it did everything right, aside from making Colossus CGI.
2. Elle - Paul Verhoeven
Isabelle Huppert didn’t need to remind anyone that she’s still one of the most fearless actresses in the world, but at least with Elle Academy members took notice. She rightfully won the Golden Globe for her performance here and Paul Verhouven proved that like Huppert, age hadn’t mellowed him out at all. This is vintage Verhouven, shocking, bloody, graphic, and excellent. If he continues to only make one film a decade and they stay as good as this and Black Book, I’ll happily take it.
1. La La Land - Damien Chazelle
Well thanks to one of the most hilarious fuck-ups in live television history, this film will always and forever be linked to Moonlight. As it happens my girlfriend and I were tied in our Oscar pool that year and this was the deciding category. So I took that mix-up a little more personal than others. Whereas Moonlight needed to sit with me and ruminate, La La Land was instantly one of my favorite films. Sometime during the Planetarium sequence I just couldn’t stop smiling. It is a pandering love letter to LA and pretentious jazz, but hot damn was it entertaining. This does seem like that rare year I actually agree with the general public, or at least a large portion of it, but sometimes people are right. There is no single film that’s ever going to save movie musicals, but every few years someone does it so right that we’re reminded how great cinema can be.
2017
10. Dawson City: Frozen Time - Bill Morrison
My favorite documentary of the year beat out a lot of pretty solid movies for the final spot on this list. I did enjoy Ladybird, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lost City of Z, Get Out, Guardians vol. 2, and The Phantom Thread among others, but Dawson City stuck with me the most. It does chronicle the life of a gold rush town but also tells the tale of what happens to disposable cinema. Dawson City used to be the end of the line for traveling reels of film, and when the town got done showing the movies, no one sent them back and they eventually got buried and forgotten about. The discovery of thousands of cans of cinema is the type of dream come true for film nerds longing for “lost” silent treasures, but this film is more than just a tale of forgotten movies. It’s real life history and a fascinating look on rapid urbanization, decay, and neglect.
9. The Shape of Water - Guillermo Del Toro
I’m still a little shocked this one best picture, not in the disappointed way I was that Green Book did, but more in a didn’t see it coming sort of way. Guillermo has always had a fascination for the odd and more often than not seems to identify with the monster, he refashions The Creature From the Black Lagoon as a love story. Some people really hated this movie, which I oddly found was the same response some people had towards Pacific Rim, but it’s a film that if you accept it’s world building, it is excellently made.
8. Personal Shopper - Olivier Assayas
After a monumental achievement like Carlos it’s fair to give a director a pass on his next several films. Assayas has made good but not exceptional films for the majority of his career but every so often he gets it all right. Assayas features Kristen Stewart in what may be her finest role yet, and I wonder if any director knows how to write for her as well as Assayas. It is part mystery, part ghost story, and wholly original. It’s not a horror film by any stretch, but there are a few moments when you wonder just what might be happening. Stewart is the anchor and helps carry this film.
7. Coco - Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
I made the mistake of watching Book of Life after Coco and I couldn’t help feel like that film ripped off Coco despite being made a few years earlier. Every few years the Pixar team reminds people that they are the true masters of the animated film. In all honesty I get the particulars of the plot mixed up with Book of Life but this film at least had the good taste to write original songs. Emotional, compelling, well animated, it’s just what Pixar does best.
6. Logan - James Mangold
James Mangold has been around for awhile and he might have seemed like an odd choice to direct The Wolverine, the movie that had the impossible task of trying to un-fuck all of the MANY flaws of X-Men Origins. That sequel was originally supposed to be Rated-R but Fox got cold feet and thought they couldn’t possibly make a violent film based on an extremely violent comic character with fucking razor sharp claws. Thankfully Deadpool let everyone concerned know that if they just stepped back and let someone who knew what they were doing handle it everything would be alright. The result was the most successful of the Wolverine movies, and a touching and brilliant send-off for Hugh Jackman’s nearly two decades inhabiting the character. Sometimes I wonder if Fox had their way and cast Russell Crowe just how much worse it could have been. As old man Logan, Jackman coughs and drags his no longer youthful self through the motions while desperately being urged to care. It finally at long last got the character right, and remains one of the finest of any comic book films.
5. Nocturama - Bertrand Bonello
Nocturama was a movie I fell in love with quite quickly. At first it seems like it’s going to be clueless young people spouting socialist gibberish, but after a series of well orchestrated bombs, it sort of turns into a bit of a Dawn of the Dead situation. Not in terms of them fending off zombies, but more in the holding up in a mall and examining the immature and vulnerable individual relationships. It’s a fascinating character study and perhaps a cautionary tale about the radicalization of youth. If it is still on Netflix I highly recommend it.
4. Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri - Martin McDonagh
I was pretty convinced this film was going to win best picture in 2017. It was my favorite of the nominees, and it had so many of those Oscar caliber things going for it. McDormand and Sam Rockwell each took home well deserved Oscars, but it ultimately fell short of the top prize. Now part of this movie does strike me as the type of really good movie no one will remember in 5 years, but damn was it good. McDormand rightfully anchors this film as she emerges from her relative slumber to remind everyone how great she is. Both Harrelson and Rockwell are worthy opponents though. Well shot, well acted, and damn good cinema.
3. Thor: Ragnarok - Taika Waititi
Before this film came out I did that thing that nerds do to their significant other, and I made Caroline watch every Marvel movie. She wasn’t entirely on board, and admittedly we didn’t get completely caught up in time, but by the time it came out she was on board. So we were pumped, ready, and excited for the next installment in what was easily the weakest Marvel franchise. Both of us were huge What We Do in the Shadows fans so we knew that tone was going to be different. So Taika Waititi took the piss out of comic movies, fully embraced the comedic tone of Guardians of the Galaxy and proceeded to make a Thor movie by removing everything that happened in the first two. He loses his father, his hammer, his planet, his friends, his girlfriend, and damn it if it doesn’t pay off. This is the closest we’ll get to a Planet Hulk movie and their Jeff Goldblum being Jeff Goldblum to boot. This is about as perfect as an MCU movie can get. I also happened to watch this movie about 6 times, so it clearly wins most viewed movie of the year.
2. The Florida Project - Sean Baker
Sean Baker proved that all he needed to make a decent movie was an iPhone with Tangerine. This was the question of what could he do with at least one professional actor, a proper crew, and a budget that was more than whatever loose change he had in his wallet. The Safdie brothers were praised for Good Time as the purveyors of white trash cinema, but Baker does them one better here. The fact that a film with children could be this good is astonishing. In any other just world that didn’t feature Sam Rockwell as a racist cop, Willem Dafoe would have won every award for his work here, but it’s the no-name performers who steal the show here. Bria Vinai had never acted and she comes across as the “Cash Me Ousside” girl grown up with a kid, but damn it if she isn’t fantastic. Brooklynn Prince is incredible as her daughter, giving one of the most naturalistic and charming performances I’ve ever seen from a kid. I thought I was going to get a hard to watch movie about garbage swamp trash, and well I sort of did except it was amazing.
1. Lady Macbeth - William Oldroyd
Making a staggering $3.9 million at the box office, like a lot of people you might be asking “What the hell movie was this?” Before the top ten lists started pouring out I found this film in a list of the year’s best movies so far in the top spot. Luckily it was streaming, and I decided to watch it, and I still can’t figure out why the hell no one else seems to have seen this movie. Perhaps it’s the fact that Shakespeare is box office poison in 2017, but let me state now, this has nothing to do with Shakespeare. At a perfect 90 minutes it’s just a slow burning character study about a woman going from victim to cold blooded manipulator. Katherine (Florence Pugh) bides her time and fucks over any damn man who gets in her way, and a few other people to boot. Hell just see it, it’s the best movie of the year and anything else I say about it would only spoil the fun.
2018
10. Burning - Lee Chang-dong
It always seems tricky picking that final film for your top ten. There were quite a few good choices, but it ultimately came down to Shoplifters and Burning. I went with Lee’s film because I think time might prove it the superior picture. I have a problematic relationship with some of Lee’s work, I absolutely hated Oasis, and was somewhat indifferent to Poetry and Secret Sunshine. Burning has the director back in top form and this is definitely one of those movies that can lull you into a false sense of security. Things do happen, which makes the abrupt shift all the more potent. It is currently on Netflix so enjoy.
9. Let the Sunshine In - Claire Denis
If I had to pick a favorite female director I don’t think there would be any doubt that it’s Claire Denis. She has been steadily remarkable for decades now, and every couple of films seems to deliver another masterpiece. With the exception of White Material though I find her best films seem to be the most intimate. Let the Sunshine In is vintage Denis and features a characteristically remarkable performance from Juliette Binoche, France’s other greatest living actress. Watching a middle aged woman have various affairs might not seem like must see cinema, but in the hands of these two legends it’s thoroughly compelling.
8. Shirkers - Sandi Tan
This is a documentary about a film of the same name, made by the person who made that original film. Now Shirkers was supposed to be the first independent film from Singapore but through a bizarre series of events went unseen and buried in it’s increasingly erratic producers hands. This tells the story of Tan’s love of film, her education, how the film was made, and ultimately how it started to turn up again. It’s hard to really describe the film because frankly there aren’t too many movies like, both this cinematic essay and the original movie it shares it’s title with.
7. Hereditary - Ari Aster
It seems nearly every year, or every other year there is a new horror film that people seem to go crazy for. I see it and shrug my shoulders. Sometimes they’re quite good, but usually I scoff overrated and get on with my day. Hereditary was the exception, and turned into that horror film I was telling everyone else to see. There is a long list of boring cliches that hacks like to use in horror films and I found myself marveling that Aster avoided pretty much all of them. This is the rare horror movie that respects the intelligence of the audience watching while not trying to be some homage to 70s and 80s films. It is uniquely original, extremely well made, and worthy of the hype.
6. If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins
There was little doubt that following up Moonlight was going to be a tall order. For what it’s worth Jenkins seems to have had the better follow up than Damien Chazelle whose competent First Man failed to get people very excited. I know some people who found the loose narrative and multiple voice overs of this film maddening, but it was all setting a tone. Despite the title Jenkins film does take place in Harlem, but it’s meant to be in any black ghetto USA. The story is universal, but it’s the way it’s told that makes it so rich and rewarding. For what it’s worth it also had my favorite score.
5. Tag - Jeff Tomsic
“The comedy you didn’t know you needed” was the line that stood out from an AMG review of this film. Since The Hangover and Bridesmaids there really haven’t been too many wildly popular comedies. Seeing a trailer for this I immediately thought, wow that looks stupid, I’m sure it will bomb. The premise does seem like something that would wear out it’s welcome in the first five minutes but shockingly it doesn’t. The cast is all fantastic, even if Jon Hamm is about a decade too old to be the same age as everyone else. Simply put it’s the funniest film I’ve seen in years, and the plot basically is a group of friends has been playing the same game of tag for 20 or so years. All of the character introductions are fantastic and it’s one of those solid comedies that can actually make you briefly give a shit about the real life drama surrounding it. Seriously don’t sleep on this one.
4. Sweet Country - Warwick Thornton
No major studio seems to be making a major push to have Western films be a thing, but every so often one comes around that reminds you the genre is far from dead. In the case of Sweet Country you had to travel to Australia to find it. Sweet Country plays like The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, and that’s never a bad thing. Basically your routine white people are awful side with the Aborigine type of revisionist tale. The film is surprisingly universal despite it’s setting and time period. Easily the best Australian film I’ve seen in many years.
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman
Before Logan I was wondering if they would ever make a decent Wolverine movie. Into the Spider-Verse is the seventh Spider Man film Sony has put out, and god damn it’s a masterpiece. Sure it had to be animated, but instead of world building and re-telling the same old Spider Man stories we’re sick of it throws everything at you. We get multiple Spidey’s, tons of villains, and this time the kid who gets bit by a Spider happens to be Miles Morales among others. It’s a movie that brings forth a confusing amount of alternate realities but dispatches with the exposition so quickly that you realize how fast we can catch up to what’s happening. I wouldn’t have thought Jake Johnson would appear in two of my favorite films in 2018, but his older fatter Peter Parker is one of the many spot on voice acting performances. My personal nod is the perfect pairing of John Mulaney and Spider Ham.
2. Avengers: Infinity War - Joe and Anthony Russo
You didn’t need to be immersed into Spider Man and his many alternate versions to enjoy Into the Spider-Verse, but if you weren’t caught up on the MCU, this was not for you. It took a decade, and some twenty films to get to this point. When you add up the extra 15 years or so before the first Iron Man of childhood me waiting for the story of Thanos and the Infinity Guantlet to show up on screen, well it’s nearly a lifetime of anticipation. This is no easy task but the Russo brothers more than delivered. This is shameless fan service, but the fact that they did the Mad Titan justice, balanced 20 odd major characters across multiple planets, and let the villain win is all spectacular. It set a nearly impossible bar for Endgame to clear (which it kind of did), but for my money Infinity War is probably the best Marvel movie we’ll ever get.
1. Blindspotting - Carlos Lopez Estrada
I hate to say that my two favorite films of the year require a unique to me sort of backstory but here we are. Where Sorry to Bother You went for a more surreal and comical approach to surviving Oakland, Blindspotting hit you right in the face. That isn’t to say there aren’t comedic moments here, but no well hung horse people. This film is grounded in reality in a way that felt really, really close to home because they filmed parts of it a block away from where I lived. It was also a film that in some small way changed me, while leaving the theater both Caroline and I knew despite not working in the tech industry we were part of the problem in Oakland. It’s hard not to feel something watching this, and I don’t know if people who aren’t from The Town can connect with it on the same level, but this is my list, and this was my favorite movie of 2018.
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